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Household Budget PlanningA Practical Example

You are about to learn the basic concept of the household budget planning system and how to categorize your expenses so you can start living debt free.

When first learning the basics of budgeting money, realize this process takes about three months of working it for real understanding. At the six month mark, there is full comprehension and after one year, a set of realistic monthly expenses emerges.

Do not get frustrated as you are embarking on a household budget planning process that will last a lifetime and lead to incredible financial and burden lifting freedom.

If right now you are feeling overwhelmed, stop. Take a deep breath and start back at the beginning. Digest it a little slower, chewing a bit more after each bite. Understanding will come ... it really will.

When household budget planning, you will inevitably create one that fits your specific situation. Your family’s circumstances, income, and expenses are unique. You will be using the spending patterns and goals of your family. Do not feel the pressure to work from someone else’s mold. Go back and look at the goals you just created to keep you on track.

Some Basic Guidelines

There are, however, guidelines to get you started. Similar circumstances of existence require that every family have at least these general categories as part of their budget. The specific details of how they are carried is unique to you and your type of family.

A family with many children will have different expenses then a couple that just got married. Also, a family with younger children may have college savings as a goal, whereas a family with older children will have a need for more clothing and food.

These differences in families is what makes it impossible to develop any sort of standardized family budget thereby hindering the ability for living debt free. Some families believe things such as television cable or high speed Internet service is to be added to the list of necessary expenses.

Be careful. This can become a spending trap.

Other Category Areas

Other areas are lunches and travel to work and school, birthday parties, and babysitters. Then there are personal allowances that covers clothing, beauty salon, barber, entertainment, sports equipment, and craft supplies.

Luggage, jewelry, gifts, and membership fees are categories to be suspect. These are great budget busters.

Once you begin preparing a family budget, you will see what categories you need to develop. Your type of family, living arrangements, and personalities will speak pretty clearly to the specifics.

This really is not complicated. The important thing to remember is that household budget planning is a work in progress. It is a give and take that will remain constantly in flux because living, itself, is not static.

Do not to see these adjustments as some sort of failure offering you an opportunity to quit. You are merely on a living debt free learning curve; and because of the uniqueness of your particular family, proper household budget planning will be reflective of this.